The Royal Opera House holds a very special place in my affections. I saw my first opera there around 60 years ago, I attended performances there regularly in the 1950s when resident members of the company included Jon Vickers, Joan Sutherland, Louis Quilico, Geraint Evans and so many other legends from the period. And for the next 35 years I was in and out of the house for performances and other business on a regular basis. It is part of any British opera goer as the Met is to any New Yorker.
So it is always an emotional thing to be back in the house, bringing back, as it does, so many memories of the great singers and conductors that appeared there in the second half of the last century. My visits in recent years have been rarer. I have, after all, been living out of the UK for the bulk of the last 20 years.
The production I saw last night of The Minotaur was a remarkable accomplishment - stunning in every department, showing the very considerable of strengths of the company as a company. I hope that the public appreciates, as we in the profession do, what a really classy set up they have there. There is always an ongoing discussion about support for the performing arts. Opera is expensive - and why? Because it employs a huge number of people, artists and craftsmen as well as professionals working in a wide range of activities to get the show on. We are always banging on about employment - well we should consider what fantastic value for money is provided by public support for the arts instiutions, large and small. We know only too well how much money is wasted elsewhere........
Back to The Minotaur - the evening ended with an on stage tribute to the singer of the title role, John Tomlinson, who made his first appearance at Covent Garden 35 years ago and has appeared in the house every year since bar two. Given his long career at both Glyndebourne and the English National Opera, not to mention in the greatest opera houses around the world, it is a remarkable demonstration of loyalty.
John began his career at Glyndebourne as a member of the chorus, coming straight from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He still lives in Lewes, Sussex. We love him, and thank him, and look forward to many more fruitful years.....
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